Follow law on police stops: An editorial

New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas staunchly defends his department's focus on collecting personal details at traffic and pedestrian stops, an approach that has created a mammoth database of information. During the past year alone, personal information from more than 70,000 stops has been entered into a centralized data base. NOPD brass maintain that field interview cards, which contain...

New Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas staunchly defends his department's focus on collecting personal details at traffic and pedestrian stops, an approach that has created a mammoth database of information. During the past year alone, personal information from more than 70,000 stops has been entered into a centralized data base. NOPD brass maintain that field interview cards, which contain information on everything from a person's name and Social Security number to their tattoos and scars, are a smart investigative tool.

View full sizeMichael DeMocker, The Times-Picayune archiveNew Orleans Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas was photographed during a news conference March 2. March 2 2012

That's deeply troubling, and while field interview cards -- so-called FICs -- might produce some leads in solving crime, the vast majority of people who are catalogued in the database have done nothing wrong. It's difficult to see why the police should collect information about them.

Within the past 12 months, officers have conducted 71,507 field interviews, and 12,860 arrests resulted from those interactions. But the remaining number, nearly 60,000 FICs, were still entered into the database even though the people interviewed weren't arrested.

There's reason to believe that police officers, who write an average of 200 FICs per day, are being pushed to complete as many as possible. Under Superintendent Serpas, they have been used to measure officer and district performance, Deputy Superintendent Kirk Bouyelas told The Times-Picayune in 2010.

That kind of pressure could lead to abuses, like stopping people without a legitimate reason.

In fact, there are signs that is happening. Officer Larry Cager of NOPD's training academy sent an April 16 memo to top-ranking officials that points out field interviews must be based "on reasonable suspicion'' and any detention must be "justified at its inception.'' That's a pretty clear explanation about when it's proper to fill out a card.

But apparently that's not been obvious to everyone. "With this in mind, it has come to the academy's attention that officers are being instructed to complete these F.I.C.'s whenever they come into contact with an individual, regardless of the reason. This is incorrect and (an) invasion upon that individual's Fourth Amendment rights,'' the memo said.

That seems like a pretty strong indication that officers are being instructed to ratchet up the field interviews -- and in a way that violates the Constitution.

And then there's Officer Darren Hartman, a 24-year veteran on the force. He says he got into trouble when he resisted pressure to fill out FICs that he deemed inappropriate. He raised questions because he was concerned that what officers were doing was illegal and improper, according to Eric Hessler, an attorney for the Police Association of New Orleans who represents the officer.

His client asked for the policy in writing but never received it, Mr. Hessler said.

In some cases, Officer Hartman filled out the cards but noted on them in writing that he was "ordered to do so by rank.''

He was disciplined just days after Officer Cager sent out the memo. Superintendent Serpas said that the reason was his failure to write tickets "on clear and obvious violations.'' But Officer Hartman's disciplinary citation notes that he failed to comply with orders to fill out FICs at all accident scenes.

That contradicts what was outlined as proper policy in Officer Cager's memo. It specifically cited accidents, and it said that officers must be able to articulate reasonable suspicions "by showing that the complainant was, is or is about to be involved in criminal activity.'' If not, the memo says, "the officer has no cause and should not be completing an FIC on that individual.''

Indeed, it would be absurd if every motorist involved in a fender-bender ended up with a dossier in a police database. It's also puzzling that Officer Hartman got in trouble seemingly for adhering to policy. His supervisor even told him to seek counseling.

Superintendent Serpas points out that many stops don't result in FICs, which he says shows they are using judgment "in accordance with the law and professional practice." During the past year, FICs were filled out in about 41 percent of vehicle stops and 45 percent of pedestrian stops.

Superintendent Serpas also said that integrity control officers have been randomly reviewing FICs since April 2011 to make sure that officers are exercising judgment. In the first six months, he says that they reviewed 6,749 stops.

That would be more reassuring if the NOPD could say how many of those cases were flagged or otherwise highlighted.

The value of the data is also unclear. The Justice Department's 2011 report notes that the FIC database doesn't contain information on race or ethnicity. It can't be used, then, to determine whether officers are stopping a disproportionate number of African-American people or other minorities. The data base also leaves out information that would be helpful in solving crimes, like whether a frisk or other search took place, whether contraband was discovered and even the disposition of the stop.

"It is clear that the Department is not collecting data in a sufficiently useful or complete way, and is conducting little or no analyses of the data it does have,'' the report said.

In a written response to Times-Picayune questions, Superintendent Serpas said that the department's policy regarding FICs and traffic stops is under review. It should be. Police must not trample on the constitutional rights of citizens, and officers certainly shouldn't be pressured to do so.

The New Orleans Police Department should make sure that its policies are crystal clear and that its officers are following those rules -- and the law -- scrupulously when it comes to stopping and questioning people.